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Book Review: Debt-Updated and Expanded-The First 5000 Years

In this sharp review of D. Graeber’s book, ‘Debt-Updated and Expanded: The First 5000 Years’ released in 2014 Tejaswini Chepyala traces the financial crisis of 2008 back to the historical roots of debt to weave an informative and eye-opening essay. Have you wondered why a U.S dollar note has the word “debt” imprinted on it?…
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The Social-Justice Implications of Brexit

In the ongoing brouhuahua over Brexit, Kalyani Unkule tries to uniquely assess the impact on global social justice through the various consequences Brexit threatens to have on politics, trade relations, and the lives of the British people. Even as the political and economic fallout of the result of the Brexit referendum largely remain matters of…
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Sectoral Analysis: E-commerce in India

In the past few decades, rapid development in the information and telecommunications sector has greatly impacted the way we live- especially with the growing importance of the e-commerce sector. While the traditional shop-based retailing still thrives, e-commerce has been consistently gaining ground with the entry of e-commerce behemoths such as Amazon and Alibaba along with…
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Coming South in search of a Bride

Despite Haryana’s infamous skewed sex ratio and terrible treatment of women, Malayali women are marrying Haryanvi men. S.Irudaya Rajan and Sharada Srinivasan explore the strange case of how women from Kerala are wedding men from Haryana in what often turn out to be disastrous marriages. Some trends seem astonishing at first, but begin to make…
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How Gender Inclusive is MNREGA in practice?

MNREGA mandates that a third of all workers under the programme should be women. But how gender inclusive has the implementation of the Act been? This column uses nationally representative data to analyse participation of women in MNREGA. It finds that while the programme has performed well overall in terms of providing opportunities to women,…
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Two Years Since Make in India

In this article, Ashwath Komath revisits the arguments for the Make in India programme, nearly two years since its conception, to assess whether it is truly needed and beneficial in the Indian development context. As the Modi government turns two on May 26th, we should take a look at his past initiatives, one of the…
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Examining Migration Governance in India

In this article, the migration expert, Dr. Irudaya Rajan argues for a stronger and better coordinated migration policy which focuses on the well-being of Indian migrant workers at all three stages in a migrants life-cycle. The World Bank classifies India as one of the top emigrating countries in the world with a stock of 13.88…
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Quarterly Newsletters (Feb-Mar-Apr ’16)

The Quarterly Newsletters of Nickeled & Dimed and Centre for International Economic Studies (CIES) have been released for the months of February, March and April 2016! Check them out to know the latest activities taking place at the research centre while stimulating your mind by engaging with interesting articles on essential areas of public policy…
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A Diamond with many Facets

Kalyani Unkule raises a valid concern about the maintenance of the Kohinoor diamond in India, given its intriguing history and proposes an alternate way to protect its legacy and improve global ties. A bid to reclaim the Kohinoor diamond from Britain has once again gained momentum over the past weeks. The debate has almost exclusively…
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Make in India Vs. Made In India – A Layman’s Guide

In this essay, Kalyani Jain outlines two different economic programs ‘Make in India’ and ‘Made in India’; one the government has and another the government might promote in order to deal with the stagnating economic situation in India. The essay analyzes their pros and cons and ends by giving a possible solution to the dilemma…
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Devolution Of Funds To Local Govts – Budget 2016 Reflects A Shift In Policy Thinking

By Sahil Aggarwal “A sum of ₹ 2.87 lakh crore will be given as Grant-in-Aid to Gram Panchayats and Municipalities as per the recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission. This is a quantum jump of 228% compared to the previous five-year period. The funds now allocated, translate to an average assistance of over ₹ 80…
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Has Brazil followed India’s Political Economic path to Progress since 1950: A Comparative Study

Institutions and Geography change slowly. Moderate changes in country specific circumstances produce discontinuous changes in economic performances. This is a comparative study of the economy of Brazil with India from the period 1947 uptil now. Since the economic model followed by Brazil has similarities with India and the opening up of the economies of both…
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